The White Paper, Making Birmingham an Inclusive City, containing the final recommendations from the Birmingham Social Inclusion Process, Giving Hope Changing Lives has now been published.
These recommendations have now been approved by the city council’s Cabinet and the Bishop of Birmingham is writing to key leaders in the city to invite them to help turn the recommendations into action.
Thanks to everyone who has commentated, given evidence and contributed to the process!
We would welcome hearing from you about how you or your organisation can influence or deliver any of the recommendations in the White Paper.
See below for WordPress’s annual report into our blog!
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 10,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 17 years to get that many views.
We were there to see how the programme works and find out why it’s successful.
The programme has two objectives linked to improving health – to engage more cardiac patients in activity that could prevent a second heart attack and to give unemployed people an opportunity to gain skills and work experience as there is a strong link between unemployment and ill-health.
The sessions are coordinated by Kate Gee, consultant nurse, from the hospital’s Cardiac Rehabilitation Service.
Here is a short video of Kate talking about the programme
Kate’s point in the video about “de-medicalising” patients’ recovery was definitely evident in the session and the emphasis was on having a good time. The dancing was led by Alistair, a professional dance teacher who took everyone through the steps at a suitable pace to music from the 1930s to the 1950s.
People who are new to the group can choose to sit and watch until they feel confident enough to have a go and the volunteers are there to encourage them to join in when they feel ready.
The Bishop talked with volunteers and patients while we were there and even had a go at learning the jitterbug.
Bishop David said:
“The cardio volunteer programme is an excellent partnership between Gateway Family Services and University Hospitals Birmingham.
“These regular dance sessions are a great way of heart patients getting exercise in a supportive and sociable setting, helping their recovery and having fun at the same time.”
It’s not only the patients that benefit – the volunteers get training and qualifications and several unemployed people who have joined the programme as volunteers have gone on to find paid work as a result of the experience.
